All Blacks lost and in which Williams was sin-binned after New Zealand were adjudged to have infringed repeatedly. After an indifferent performance against Australia – according to coach Graham Henry, "we thought Ali Williams had an opportunity on Saturday and didn’t take it" – Williams was dropped from the squad for New Zealand's last game in the 2004 Tri Nations, against South Africa, who won comprehensively, out-scoring the All Blacks by five tries to two. Williams's selection for the All Black's end-of-year tour to Europe was helped by the unavailability of Keith Robinson, and Simon Maling, who was about to take up a contract in Japan, but he only started in the second Test, against Wales, coming on as a replacement in the other two Tests, against Italy and France. He also started in the end-of-tour match against the Barbarians. 2005 Despite a lack of game time during the 2005 Super 12 season – he was suspended for six weeks after being found guilty of trampling on fellow All Black Richie McCaw during the game between the Blues and Crusaders – Williams was chosen to start in the opening Test of the All Blacks season, a 91–0 rout of , during which he scored his second international try. His third came two weeks later, in the first Test against the touring British & Irish Lions, a game in which he dominated the line-out, winning the ball several times on the opposition's throw, most effectively in the 24th minute, when, having caught the ball on a Lions' defensive line-out, he spotted a gap in the opposing line, darted through it and, shaking off an attempted tackle by the Lions half-back, Dwayne Peel, drove over the goal-line for the All Blacks' first try of the match. He started in all three Tests against the Lions, and scored his fourth international try in the final Test, when Dwayne Peel fumbled a grubber kick from Luke McAlister, and Williams pounced on the loose ball in the in-goal area. He started in all four of New Zealand's matches in the 2005 Tri Nations Series and came close to scoring another try in the last game, against Australia, on his home ground, Eden Park, but, after winning the ball at an Australian line-out and making a 20-metre break, his attempted grubber kick was wayward. He did, however, create the second of wing Doug Howlett's three tries